New Research Shows Coffee Can Keep Obesity at Bay

Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham made a breakthrough after their studies have proven that drinking coffee is a good way of keeping obesity at bay. Coffee as it turns out, promotes the production of Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) in the body.

BAT is also called “brown fat” because of its brown coloring. It is also called “good fat;” mainly because its chief function is to generate heat for burning calories. The theory which the researchers worked on is that if a body has more “brown fat” reserve, then it burns more calories and reduce excess calories. Excess calories on the other hand, later develop to become the White Adipose Tissue or WAT, the type of human fat that causes obesity.

The Nottingham university researchers therefore conducted an experiment to prove true, the helpful effect of “brown fat” in the human body.

How Researchers Proved that BAT Reduces Excess Calories

It was widely believed before that BAT or “brown fat” is present only in babies and in mammals that go into hibernation. The discovery that it is also present in adults was only recent. Still, “brown fat” present in adult bodies do not occur in large quantities as those present in babies and hibernating mammals.

That is why adults who frequently take in calorie-rich food need to be active in order to generate heat for burning calories. Otherwise, White Adipose Tissues (WAT), commonly known as human fat develops, being products of excessive calories stored in the body. Continuous storing of calories without burning will then lead to obesity.

In order to prove that coffee can encourage the production of “brown fat,” the University of Nottingham researchers started their experiment with a series of stem cells. Once they zeroed in on the right dose to introduce as “brown fat” stimulant, they moved on to humans in testing the “brown fat stimulating-effects of coffee.

Using the non-invasive thermal imaging technique which the University of Nottingham researchers pioneered back in 2012, they were able to trace the body’s brown fat reserves, as starting point.



Professor Michael Symonds of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Science at the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham co-directed this current study. It is worth mentioning that Professor Symonds also directed the 2012 pioneering work on the thermal imaging technique designed to locate BAT inside the body.

That being the case, the research team was able to immediately locate the BAT reserve in the neck region of the individual who drank coffee as part of the testing process. The goal was to determine if after drinking coffee, the thermal reading will show indications that the BAT reserve in the individual’s neck became hotter.

Inasmuch as the results were positive, they were able to prove that drinking coffee can indeed stimulate activation of the BAT or “brown fat reserve”

According to Professor Symonds, the next research work they will embark on is to ascertain if caffeine content was the primary component acting as stimulus, or if any other component of coffee acted as a stimulant.